The Salt Lake Tribune has an article examining how Breaking Dawn has critics who at the same time call the book too racy and too tame, pushing a LDS agenda and setting a poor LDS example,and other contradictions.
You’ve heard of football widows? Well a bunch of husbands, who formed an Vampire Support group because their wives were obsessed with the Twilight Saga, have taken things a step further. They have now started a new blog to support Stephenie and the Twilight series.
OMG!! Cassie you are right. I mean back in Shakespeare’s time women weren’t allowed to act or even know how to anything except sew, knit, and cook. Go Cassie!
Ok,I’ve read everyone’s comments, and I’m sooo glad that everyone is defending SM! I’m mormon, too, and I think it the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard to suggest that SM would be excommunicated because of these books! Even if she DID write about pre-marital sex in her books, she wouldn’t be! I say “shame on you” to anyone who would’ve suggested a that. Those people are making all mormons look like over-bearing religious freaks, who don’t believe in creativity or using the gifts God has given you to their greatest potential (which is something our church teaches). Stephenie, you keep doing what you’re doing, and bravo to you for not letting these nay-sayers get you down. I am proud to say that I share the same religion as you. P.S- I loved every single one of your books, and I hope you keep writing, because I’ll keep reading!
Also, to say that women are so “evolved” that we can’t have the wonderful experience of falling madly in love, or going a little berserk because the loss of that love is, in my opinion, limiting a woman’s rights. A step in the wrong direction for woman everywhere, don’t you think?
I’m LDS too, i think breaking dawn was a great book. people again need to realize its fiction!
and what else did we expect with edward and bella’s relationship after breaking dawn? i loced the series. and i am pro SM
for an answer to the is every one in utah LDS? yes they are don’t feel like your affending im LDS to though i dont live in utah. the percentage is over 70 for mormons in utah.
its where our church was built
I wish I could show everyone a pic of my boyfriends face when I told him we were going to the midnight opening of the movie…priceless, he already blames me for hime not sleeping for a week. i didn’t read the series till breaking dawn came out, and i went to the release with a friend, opened Twilight and couldn’t stop reading it, so i ended up reading the entire series in 8 days. my bf was not happy, as for the support group, he may want to join, lol. besides, i loved breaking dawn, and thought the book played out and ended well. i loved renesme’s character.
oh and the anti-feminist thing is a load of crap, fact is many women and girls want that perfect guy, and here you have a normal girl, Bella, in between two perfect examples of great guys that she loves, and she has to choose. it’s a great love story, and if people don’t like it, they don’t have to read it, but i won’t get into that. but i will say, what did everyone expect to happen with bella? the volturi would surely hunt her and the cullens down, i’m happy it ended the way it did, we should all get happy endings. anyhoo, so there’s my first post, in true ADD form…so yeah…
Ok. I have been visiting this web site every day since January and this is the first time I have been compeled to leave a comment. First on the whole “mormon thing” not all mormons are judgemental, but some definately are and they are the ones with the big mouths so everyone thinks that all mormons are like that. Second, I am LDS and I live in Utah where I know TONS of LDS women have read these books and loved them. I don’t know of anyone who was offended by the way she handled the “sex” parts of the book. Not even my mom and she is strict! And as for the convincing the youth to join her church…well. The only message in that series that was close to our religion is the waiting for marriage to have sex. Mormon or not, what is wrong with spreading that message? It shows that you can truly love someone and not have to show it the way everyone thinks that you have to.
I agree with Samantha’s post. I didn’t like Breaking Dawn because it didn’t fulfill my expectations. Does that mean that I have some kind of hate towards Stephanie Meyer or a religion? Ofcourse not. The story of BD was not satisfying to me, but it might be to other readers. Even though it’s just fiction, it’s still a story — and this gives readers the right to want a rich, well written ending which may include a bit more thrill, adventure, tragedy or loss. I think those that have criticized Breaking Dawn just realize how much better the book could have been. That being said, I everyone is going to have their own opinion on the book and that will stem from their expectations of a what makes a good story.
I think it’s funny because Edward is NOT the perfect guy. If I had a man fawning over me as obsessively as Edward I’d get a restraining order!
However, and what-with, I read all four books and I really enjoyed them. I’m a Utah Mormon (and for the person who said our Church was built there, I’m not sure what you are referring to, since we were kicked out of Nauvoo, IL and came to SLC because it was a safe place) and although I think Bella is kind of a horn-dog, I praised SM for keeping Bella chaste. I think she did an excellent job of showing good values in books about –get this –Vampires. The fact that this book was written for the general public and not for Mormons should have kept any kind of Mormon crticism at bay, and I find it unfortunate that it has not.
As a SAHM (stay at home mother) with a college degree and a writer myself, I congratulate SM on her success. She deserves all the praise and all of the criticism. The best books always get both, you know.
[Btw, SM would never be excommunicated (kicked out) from the Mormon Church for something like this. It's very, very hard to get excommunicated in our religion and you have to have rebelled pretty badly for them to even suggest it. ]
I agree with Symantha. And not everyone in Utah is LDS, but many are. I’m LDS, and though I think some members can be very fanatical, I hope people realize that not everyone is! I hope not all of us are “too judgmental”.
P.S… I didn’t like Breaking Dawn but I wasn’t thinking ANYTHING like, “Oh, she is not representing our religion, how could she write that,” etc. I was disappointed in the story.
Isabel – The percentage of members to the LDS faith in Utah easily varies depending on who you ask. I found a website that has an Associated Press article on the subject from July, 2005 http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon248.html
By the way, I am one of the “nonpracticing members”, but most of my family is LDS (Latter Day Saint) and active.
Emilly -
Why hate living in Utah? Not all of us hate Stephenie Meyer. I bet you that a lot of us LDS girls living here in Utah read her books and love it. Were not all bad.
BTW not all of us in Utah are LDS, my cousins and a lot of my friends aren’t.
i LOVED breaking dawn! i mean, it was AWSOME!! i think i liked it best out of all 4 books! it was just so perfect cause we all wanted bella to become a vampire in the end but if stephenie meyer just wrote it like bella gets married to edward, edward bites her, shes a vampire it would be a happy ending but also totally expected. but then she threw in the whole renesmee thing and i was like woh! i so did NOT see that one coming! it was totally surprising and unexpected. so ya, breaking dawn was pretty much the most perfect cherry on top of the totally awsome twilight ice cream sunday.
Im sorry for saying what i said, i knew it would offend someone. Its just something i grew up with. Not being mormon in a place where most of the pop. is mormon. Its just personal experiences that make me think the way i do sometimes.
I apologize though, not all mormons are mean, in fact alot are pretty chill. Its just the ppl who made and impact on my views of mormons for the bad.
Sorry :/
And mormons arent the main reason i hate Utah btw, that was a bad choice of words sorry about that too.
Its just they are so harsh, and self-righteous about most things, it just peeves me ya know, no hard feelings?
So I was all prepared to write up an “In the Defense of Mormons” so y’all don’t think we’re a bunch of quacks, but I found that my fellow sisters have reached everyone faster. But basically, those people complaining about Stephenie are the MINORITY. These are the people who don’t associate with anyone but church members, home school their children to protect them from every evil, and don’t allow their kids to watch Tarzan (true story-my aunt wouldn’t let her kids watch that movie even though it was G). But they are so small and DO NOT voice the opinion of every LDS out there.
But I’d like to say something Lucy: I think you misunderstand why Mormons get married so quickly. It is not because we are anxious to have sex. It is because in our religion a couple is not married just on this earth but for all eternity, and their children born into the covenant are sealed to them forever. We spend our whole lives preparing for this, finding that one person to marry in the temple for time and all eternity. It is a major step, something very beautiful, pure, and holy. But also, because the marriage IS forever, it is not something taken lightly. I knew a woman who prayed for 8 MONTHS to wait for an answer to if she should marry her boyfriend (she got a yes and they’re happily married now). So should someone get an answer quickly, they want to be married because they’re so excited and want to be with the one they love forever-and they don’t even need vampire venom to do so.
cool!
I’m with Rebecca Walsh – it’s fiction, it’s entertaining, and it’s all in good fun. People need to lighten up.
That is why I salute my European brethern who don’t view sex as evil, hats off my friends. Stephenie should get patted on the back from getting the kids of video games and into reading again.
“You might want to learn how to take things in context. We didn’t compare her writing to Tolkein, Lewis, or Pullman (you forgot Pullman. If you are going to quote us at least get it right.) we said her writing is no more an attempt to convert us to her religion as those writer’s writings (all of which are self-admittedly influenced by their respective religious upbringings) an attempt to convert the masses to the Catholic or Anglican faiths, or in the case of Pullman to become an atheist.
Pel”
actually, comparing them is *exactly* what you’ve done, regardless of context. oh, and i didn’t *quote* you, i paraphrased you. if i had quoted you, i would have used “quotation marks.” if you’re going to attempt a rebuttal, “at least get it right.” (see, there i’ve quoted you.)
*cheers for laluna*
I love how fans of BD can rave all they want about how great it was and how awesome SM is, but if someone wants to criticize the book or discuss the “little details,” they need to be quieted and don’t know what they are talking about. We can all express our opinions, people!
Whatever people write is going to be influenced by their religion. I mean, DUH! Religion changes how you see people, actions, life… If you believe in a heaven, that changes how you see problems in the here and now- as temporary rather than permanent. If you believe that people are created in the image of God, there is redemption, even if not excuses for their actions, but every person has the potential of being a good person.
Writing a story is putting your visions to paper. And frankly, the places that people are criticizing SM for are things that are common to many major religions around the world.
I will freely admit- I am not Mormon. But I agree that sex should wait until marriage, that murder is wrong, and that being selfish and rude and nasty to people is a bad thing. Stealing is wrong. Things like that. And you know what? Millions of people all over the world will agree with me (not on all of them, but a lot). Mormons, buddhists, Christians, atheists or confused individuals have a lot of the same values. There is really very little to argue about here.
Writing can be true to your values/religion and be true to the world at the same time. For the authors that do this, I admire them for keeping true to themselves. This means that yes, I admire Stephenie Meyer.
laluna…the comparison was in regards to the CRITICISMS, not the STYLE of writing…
“laluna…the comparison was in regards to the CRITICISMS, not the STYLE of writing…”
toMAYto, toMAHto…there were comparisons made, authors being lumped together, for whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. sheesh, has noone here even taken a comparative lit class? oh, wait…
The Twilight saga is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how could anyone not like it??????? i love bella, edward, alice, jasper, emmet, rosalie, carlisle, and esme. they ARE so awesome!!!! how is that book racy?? i didnt read anything that made me think it was.